Context:

The Kamrup (Metropolitan) district administration has prohibited community fishing in Deepor Beel, a wetland on the south-western edge of Guwahati and Assam’s only Ramsar site.

More about the news:

• The prohibition order under Section 144 of the Cr.P.C. underlines the possibility of community fishing on January 3 and will remain beyond the mid-January Magh or Bhogali Bihu that is preceded by mass fishing in many parts of the State.
• The order was necessary to prevent fishing, excavation and construction in and around the  wetland that has been shrinking over the years.
• Deepor Beel was designated a Ramsar site in 2002 for sustaining a range of aquatic life forms besides 219 species of birds.
• A Ramsar Site is a wetland designated to be of international importance under the Convention on Wetlands on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar.